The invention relates generally to multimedia computer systems, and, more particularly, to multimedia computer systems for interactively playing, recording and displaying video and audio information generated from television programming.
Television has been heretofore and currently remains the most important and convenient means of presenting information to individuals and the public at large. With the advent of satellite and cable television, an individual may choose from an almost unlimited choice of television programs. These programs range from informative programs, such as news and infomercials, to sports and entertainment programs. With such an almost unlimited choice of programming, it is difficult to convey to viewers the content of such television programs.
Daily, weekly, and monthly programming guides can only provide a limited amount of information to viewers because of the large number of television programs which need to be described. Additionally, not all viewers subscribe or have access to such weekly or monthly programming guides. Furthermore, for up-to-the-minute news programs, it is almost impossible for a viewer to know the content of news breaking stories.
Moreover, many television programs present information in a series of short information segments. These television programs include evening news casts, news and sports headline programs, weather programs and info-tainment programs. Additionally, some of these programs are on dedicated television networks, such as the Cable News Network""s Headline News (CNN Headline News) and often present the headlines on a cyclical basis (e.g., every-half hour). Therefore, if a viewer misses a news story of interest, the viewer must wait until the next cycle of the news (e.g., one-half hour) for the news story of interest to be updated. This wait is often times frustrating for viewers. A viewer must either watch other news stories, which may or may not be of interest, or remember to watch the same television channel one-half hour later. Additionally, there is no guarantee that the news story of interest will even appear in the next cycle of the news. Therefore, the viewer would have spent one-half hour waiting for a news story which did not appear in the next segment but may still appear in later news segments.
The Internet, or World Wide Web as it is sometimes called, also provides individuals with news and entertainment. For example, one may visit a news site on the Internet, such as the Cable News Network, and search for stories of interest in their news libraries. Once a news story is found, an individual may read and/or view video of the news breaking story. However, the video quality is often poor and the time to download the video to the user""s computer can be quite long. Additionally, as is a common occurrence on the Internet, there may be heavy traffic (i.e., there are many users accessing the site) and therefore, it may difficult to gain access to the site or download the requested information. Likewise, users must also typically pay a monthly access fee to an Internet provider for Internet access.
Other approaches for providing viewers with television programming content also exist, such as online television guides and preview channels with television listings. However, these approaches also suffer from the above described drawbacks in that they provide limited information on the television program content, require online computer access, and/or cannot provide information on news-breaking stories. Accordingly, a method and system which is free from such drawbacks is desired.
According to the present invention, a method and system for capturing, organizing, and presenting information generated from a television program is provided. The method includes the steps of: providing a multimedia computer system; inputting a broadcast television signal into the multimedia computer system; generating digital video and closed caption data from the broadcast television signal; monitoring the closed caption data for transition indications; after the occurrence of a transition indication, storing the digital video to a storage device; after the occurrence of a transition indication, storing the closed caption data comprising a portion of text; after a predetermined time period following the occurrence of a transition indication, generating a snap-shot image of the video; and after the occurrence of a transition indication, monitoring the closed caption data for a specified condition. The method further includes the steps of: setting a flag after the occurrence of the specified condition to indicate that a segment of the television signal satisfies the specified condition; generating an email message indicating an occurrence of the specified condition; generating an interactive list comprising the snap-shot image and the stored closed caption text; and generating a file comprising the interactive list.
The step of storing the closed caption data including a portion of text, after the occurrence of a transition indication includes the step of storing all closed caption data between the transition indication and a predetermined ending condition. After the video, the snap-shot image of the video, and the closed caption data are all captured, they are associated with each other in a capture management database from which the interactive list and file is generated.
The system of the present invention includes a multimedia computer system having: a CPU; a storage device for storing digital data; a display device for display multimedia information; a video tuner for receiving one or more television signals and for generating digital video and audio and closed caption data; and logic for capturing, organizing, and generating information from a television signal.
The logic for capturing, organizing, and generating information from a television signal includes: logic for storing the digital video and audio to the storage device; logic for monitoring the closed caption data for a transition indication; logic for storing the closed caption data corresponding to a portion of the closed caption data occurring after the transition indication; logic for determining whether the closed caption data includes a specified condition; logic for generating an interactive list comprising the portion of the closed caption data wherein the portion of the closed caption data is linked to the digital video and audio data; and logic for playing the digital video and audio responsive to the selection of a linked portion of closed caption data.
It is therefore an advantage of the present invention to provide a method and system which allows television viewers to monitor and capture television programs that include topics or issues of interest without having to actually watch the television programs.
It is a further advantage of this invention to provide a method and system which allows television viewers to monitor and capture television programs with little or no pre-hand knowledge of the television programs"" contents.
It is still a further advantage of this invention to provide a method and system which allows television viewers to immediately be notified when a television program includes a topic or issue of interest and to allow the television viewer to immediately view the television program.